STAGGERING 1.8 million Britons may already have been infected with the potentially deadly coronavirus, a team of scientists have warned in a report.

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Experts at Imperial College London said one in every 37 people in the UK could have contracted COVID-19 as of March 28. The group led by Professor Neil Ferguson analysed outbreaks of the viral disease in European countries and estimated the true scale of the epidemic across the continent. Prof Ferguson and his team concluded that about 19 million people living in 11 of Europe’s wealthiest countries may have been infected with the potentially deadly virus.

A team of scientists say 1.8 million Britons may have already been infected with COVID-19 (Image: GETTY)

Medical workers prepare an ambulance in London (Image: GETTY)

Fifteen percent of Spaniards are predicted to have been infected, along with 10 percent of Italians.

When it came to the UK, the scientists said 2.7 percent of the UK’s population had contracted the potentially deadly viral disease.

This prediction would mean 1.775 million people living in Britain had at some point suffered from the illness.

Prof Ferguson, who advises the government, and his colleagues estimated the overall number of cases in Europe to be much higher than the 366,000 total reached by officials at the World Health Organisation (WHO).